Yesterday, we covered reports coming out of Ottawa that stated that Senators forward Alex DeBrincat and his representation’s lofty demands for his next contract extension have been a significant barrier to a DeBrincat trade getting over the finish line. Today, DeBrincat’s agent, Jeff Jackson, spoke on those reports telling The Athletic’s Ian Mendes that the report is “entirely false and without merit,” and that “there has been no agreement of any kind on an actual trade involving Alex.” (subscription link)
Addressing whether DeBrincat’s contract demands were holding up the possibility of his client being traded out of Ottawa, Jackson wrote quite firmly: “Agents and players don’t make trades … that’s the GM’s job.” DeBrincat, 25, has already made it clear that he’s not interested in signing long-term with the Senators, making a trade the preferred outcome for all involved in the process. With an arbitration date looming later this offseason, it appears there could be a growing level of hostility between the involved sides, one that could make reaching a final trade agreement all the more challenging.
More notes from across the NHL:
- In other news coming out of the Senators organization, the team has announced the hire of Nathan McIver as an assistant coach on David Bell’s Belleville Senators staff. He’ll join Ottawa’s AHL affiliate as Bell’s second assistant coach, and joins from the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. McIver is a former AHL defenseman who played in 36 career NHL games, and he’s had a fantastic two-season run with the Growlers on Eric Wellwood’s staff.
- The Vancouver Canucks announced today that Roman Kaszczij has been named the team’s Head Athletic Therapist, earning this major role after five seasons in the Canucks organization. The team wrote that Kaszczij “played an instrumental role in establishing” their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks’s medical department, and now he’ll play a similarly important role on the off-ice staff in Vancouver.
Each side in this DeBrincat mess is trying to game the other side. DeBrincat’s agent has spoken to four teams reportedly. He was given permission by Ottawa to do so. He must have conveyed to those teams what they were looking for otherwise why speak to them?
In my opinion, this does not reflect well on DeBrincat or his agent. Ottawa is going to try to get a good return from one of these teams. But they cannot make the deal until they know which teams in principle would meet DeBrincat’s contract extension request. The agent would know that information best and should tell the Ottawa GM who can then try to close the deal.
This is a business, DeBrincat and his agent are trying to get the best deal they can as are the Ottawa Senators. It should not surprise anyone that they would have conflicting views.
I remember when all the announcers were going nuts when this trade happened. Saying how could the Blackhawks do this and blah blah blah. Well, here we are. Hawks got a decent haul and Ottawa would be lucky to get anything close to that. I’m sure they could, but I don’t think they have the leverage
It’s also the player’s job to be worth what his agent is asking so that teams don’t hang up on said GM.
Would the Maple Leafs just see if they can swap out Nylander for DeBrincat or make a trade with those 2 as the foundation & add other pieces? If DeBrincat can sign for around 8.5mil per that would be cheaper than extending Nylander. Ottawa could treat Nylander as a rental (recoup a few extra draft picks then) & just focus on getting a few draft picks back in a trade with Toronto.
Both sides are lying in the DeBrincat mess but Debrincat’s agent is the biggest liar. They both want him to go to FA.